The Howling
by Shego2Drakken
Summary: Relative AU (Sirius doesn't die; don't kill me.) When Lupin is attacked by the Howling, a group of very radical werewolves demanding more rights for their kind, for siding with "the enemy", Harry and the others have to help him fight to defend the Order.
1. The Deep Breath Before The Plunge

AN: Yes, I know I wrote this fic having in mind Sirius being alive. So what? Just consider this a picture of what may have been, if it weren't for J.K. Rowling having killed off Sirius. Other than that, enjoy.

Summary: When Lupin is attacked by the Howling, a group of _very_ radical werewolves demanding more rights for their kind, for siding with "the enemy", Sirius and the other members of the Order, alongside with the help of the Gryffindors and a very interested Luna, have to teach him how to fight, in case something like this happens again.

Harry sighed. It was summer once again, and once again, Professor Snape, his least favorite teacher had given him homework, both difficult in quantity and quality. But he knew he had to deal with it, if he wanted to get the job he spoke of at his career advice session. Besides, he was curious to see if McGonagall was as willing to help him achieve that goal as she said she was.

Looking over the paper that Snape had assigned, 'Truth Potions and Their Use by Aurors', Harry decided he needed a break. The Dursleys had gone out to dinner with the Masons. Apparently, after Harry had escaped with the Weasleys in the summer before his second year, his Uncle Vernon had managed to convince Mr. Mason not to judge him by Harry's supposed lunacy; a fact that his Uncle didn't waste on not bragging to him.

Harry sighed. He was bored. Muggles or not, at least the Dursleys' various antics kept things entertaining, though he didn't say it out loud. The essay was finished anyway, and he knew Snape would at least try to fail him at the very least, no matter how good it was.

Though he didn't think it was possible, Snape's loathing of him had increased twice; the first being when he had helped Sirius escape under his very nose, and the other when Harry had delved too far into his teacher's memory. Though, to be fair, he hadn't really come away from that experience all grins and giggles, either.

As Harry rolled up the parchment, he considered his options:

Option One: Call Ron. This, of course, was killed by two things: A) He didn't know if the Weasleys _had_ a phone or not, and if they did, B) Ron had very little clue on _how_ to use a telephone. Damn.

Option Two: Call Hermione. Hermione _did_ know how to use a phone better than Ron, but there was the fact that Harry didn't have her phone number. Double damn.

Of course, he could've used Hedwig to contact them, but it would've taken too long for the reply to come. Then the answer hit him: _Sirius_.

Last year, he had received a special two-way mirror that would allow him to talk with Sirius whenever he needed to, so as not to risk the chances of being found out. You see, Sirius, while being his godfather, was also convicted of a crime he didn't commit. Harry himself had come face to face with the real murderer, Peter Pettigrew (ironically still alive), in his third year, clearing Sirius' name to himself, Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore, if not to anyone else.

After helping Sirius escape alongside Buckbeak, a convicted hippogriff, Sirius continued to assist Harry as much as he could in his circumstances.

Picking up the mirror, Harry enunciated clearly "Sirius Black." There was nothing on the other end except a view of the room. "Sirius?", Harry asked, trying to be loud enough so he could be heard on the other end, but trying not to be too loud. It would be a fine thing to explain to the neighbors why he was shouting into a mirror.

From the other end came the sounds of someone rushing towards the place where the mirror was set, and a call of "Be right back" from a voice Harry gratefully recognized as Sirius's.

Sirius's tired face appeared on the other end. "Harry?"

"Hey, Sirius."

Sirius turned to look at something on his end of the mirrors and called "Guys, it's Harry!" Suddenly, a hideous scream of pain emanated from the next room.

"What's going on in there, Sirius?", Harry asked nervously.

"Oh, that. Well, you know how Mundungus Fletcher said he was going to be bringing something 'important' here the last time we met?"

"Yeah", Harry said uneasily. "Well?"

"Well, the thing is, he managed to get a hold of some experimental Wit-Sharpening Potion from someone who said it was stolen from the Ministry's. Anyway he managed to get it to the Order, and had it in the doorway when…"

"When what?", Harry asked.

"When Kreacher happened to be right in his way. Of course, he couldn't see the elf since he was carrying the potion himself, so…"

"He tripped?"

"Right in one. And the potion ended up spilling all over the floor. Thankfully, it only spilled onto one person."

"Who?"

Suddenly, a wolf appeared next to Sirius. "No", Harry thought. "Probably Professor Lupin." He had checked, double-checked, and _triple_-checkd the calendar, and tonight was part of the full moon period.

The wolf-Lupin grinned (as well as a wolf could, anyway), and yipped "Hello."

Harry did a double take. "Let me guess: The potion spilled on Lupin while in his werewolf form?"

"Right in one."

"Anyway", Harry said, "you were explaining the screaming?"

Suddenly, a voice shouted "Electio!", followed by a cry of "OUCH! THE BURNING!"

"Let me guess: someone caught him?"

"Yep. Ironically, said person happened to be Snape, and he's in a pretty bad mood right about now."

"Snape?"

"Yep. Don't worry about Dung, though. It's just a Static charm, thankfully. Unfortunately, stuff will be clinging to him for awhile. Anyway, we're going to send someone to get you tomorrow, if it's okay with you."

"Don't worry, I'm thankful." He went on to tell Sirius about Uncle Vernon's business deal. He wasn't sure if Sirius understood the technical terms, but he definitely got the idea.

"Eeesh. Sounds like Snape on one of his good days. Anyway, Molly's coming over here to help out, so I have to go."

"Bye."

"See you tomorrow."

Sirius's disappeared from the mirror, and Harry put it away, feeling infinitively better than it was in the first place.

**To Be Continued...**


	2. The Board Is Set

AN: I'm gonna skip over the guys picking Harry up, okay? Though I daresay the Dursleys would be pleased to see him gone.

And no, this fiction has no relation to the movie of the same title.

Disclaimer: I only own the mysterious werewolf group, The Howling. Anything else belongs to Ms. Rowling.

* * *

It had been awhile since Lupin had gone out for his run, and Harry was starting to get a little worried. Yawning, he took another sip from the butterbeer he had gotten in hopes that it would keep him awake. He glanced up at the clock. It was 10:45 P.M, and Lupin had gone out at 9:37, promising a quick run.

* * *

(Begin Flashback...)

"So how do you expect to go for a run when we're in the middle of London?", Harry asked as he and Sirius followed Lupin to the back door.

"Well, you see, sometimes my parents did some things that were somewhat, well, less than allowed, such as when it came to the creation of some of the junk we cleaned out last year. So my parents made the door into a Portkey of sorts, leading to somewhere near Stonehenge. Look."

Sirius opened the door, and, where Harry expected to see cityscape, there was a forest landscape, bearing an uncanny resemblence to the Forbidden Forest.

"Wow", Harry said. "I'll admit, I'm impressed." Lupin loped out the door, while Harry turned to Sirius. "Shouldn't we be worried about Lupin getting kidnapped by Death Eaters?"

"Don't worry, Harry. My parents put a spell on the woods so they couldn't be found from the outside by both Muggles and wizards. Like I said, my parents did things they didn't want found out."

(End Flashback...)

* * *

"Harry?", a voice asked.

"Go 'way", Harry muttered sleepily.

"Harry", the voice repeated firmly. Harry opened his eyes and saw Tonks staring down at him. "Harry, do you know what time it is?"

Harry glanced at the clock. 11:30. "Is Lupin back yet?", he asked wearily.

"Lupin?", Tonks asked, confused. "No, he hasn't arrived at all."

Harry sat straight up in his seat at that comment. "He _hasn't_?"

He glanced at Sirius, who had his head lying on the table as he slept, and tapped him on the shoulder. Sirius slowly raised his head to look at Harry and Tonks. "Harry, Tonks. What's going o-?"

"Sirius", Harry exclaimed, "Lupin hasn't come back yet!"

"What?!", Sirius asked, sitting straight up.

* * *

Lupin panted heavily as he lay there on the ground. Those wolves he had escaped from were vicious. But he had managed to escape.

It had started out normally enough. Then a pack of wolves had emerged from the woods, surrounding him. Where they'd come from, he didn't know. But he had escaped after being pursued for a bit, and that was that.

Lupin closed his eyes for a minute. Maybe he'd be able to escape whatever was happening...

Suddenly, he heard a snarl that seemed to come from somewhere in the bushes. Lupin jumped to his paws, ready in case of an attack.

Another snarl! Lupin turned in the direction of the noise, and saw... "_Oh, no._"

Staring out of the darkness were several pairs of eyes. One of the eye pairs started to move forward, and Lupin saw that the owner of those eyes was... "_Oh, crap._"

* * *

"Remus?", Sirius called from the back door? "Remus, where are you?" Nothing. Sirius sighed. "I have a bad feeling about this", he said wearily.

"Nothing?", Harry asked.

There was a pop. "Black?" The trio turned to see Snape, standing behind them.

"What are _you_ doing here?", Tonks asked fiercely.

"I should be asking you the same thing, Ms. Tonks", Snape snapped in reply.

"Listen, I don't have time for you, Severus", Black interrupted. "Remus' missing, and-"

"What?!", Snape asked harshly.

Harry glanced up at Sirius. "What's he talking about?", he whispered.

"Sirius, go with Harry", Snape ordered. "I'll go with Tonks. Send up blue sparks if you find him, red if you're in danger. Hurry, before it's too late!"

* * *

Wands alight, Tonks and Snape dashed into the wood, Harry and Sirius headed in the other direction.

"Severus, what's going on?!", Tonks shouted.

Snape came to a stop, looking in three different directions, before turning back to look at Tonks. "Listen, I've been hearing things lately from the other Death Eaters. It seems a few of the members have died in what was deemed 'mysterious circumstances"... Though I doubt it would be hard to determine what killed them."

"Then what killed them, he who is so wise in the Dark Arts?", Tonks asked sarcastically.

"Simple", Snape said grimly. "A werewolf."

* * *

"Sirius, what's going on?", Harry asked.

"I don't know", Sirius said plainly. "Though I won't doubt that Remus might be in danger, so we'll have to proceed with caution."

There was a sudden howl of pain. Sirius and Harry looked up at the same moment.

"What was that?!", Harry asked.

* * *

Tonks' eyes widened. "What was that?!"

* * *

"It came from this direction!", Harry called, dashing in the directon of the howl, Sirius following. As they ran, they neared the crest of a great hill. As they reached the top, they slowed, and stopped, crouching low. What they saw then shocked them.

A hulking creature stood over Lupin's almost prone wolf form, growling fiercely. It stalked nearer and nearer...

Suddenly, Harry sprang to his feet, exclaiming "Expecto Patronum!" The silver-white stag charged towards the creature, driving him off, and revealing several pairs of eyes moving away from the clearing.

Sirius stood, up and he followed Harry down the hill towards Lupin's prone form. "Remus!", he shouted. Lupin lifted his head from the ground briefly, and gave a mournful whimper. He was alive.

Harry pointed his wand skywards, sending up a jet of blue sparks. A minute later, Snape and Tonks appeared at the top of the hill, dashing towards the clearing. They stopped when they saw Lupin.

"Merlin's beard...", Tonks gasped. "What happened?"

"Never mind that", Sirius said quickly. "We have to leave before-"

A sudden howl pierced the night air. "Look!", Snape exclaimed, pointing towards the brush. The eyes were back, and the owners' were stalking out of the brush.

"**_RUN_**!!!", Harry shouted.

To Be Continued...


End file.
